Another wheel comes off at Uber as SVP Amit Singhal exits over undisclosed sexual harassment allegation at Google
Former Google search chief Amit Singhal has been forced to quit Uber just one month after arriving at the ride-hailing app amidst accusations that he failed to disclose a sexual harassment allegation made during his time at the search giant.
Singhal was named as Uber’s SVP of engineering just last month but has been boomeranged back out after chief executive Travis Kalanick discovered that he had failed to disclose an allegation of sexual harassment made during his stint at Google.
The late disclosure caps a torrid start to the year for Uber having been rocked by allegations of sexual harassment made by former employee Susan Fowler Rigettir, a Google lawsuit alleging theft of self-driving car technology and a #DeleteUber social media campaign.
Despite carrying out its own background checks, Uber was only made aware of the allegations after being alerted by a Recode journalist. Subsequent enquiries determined that the claim made against Singhal was credible and only passed below the radar because the woman wished to remain anonymous – allowing Singhal to quietly resign rather than be sacked.
Speaking to Bloomberg Singhal wrote: “Harassment is unacceptable in any setting” and that he wants “everyone to know that I do not condone and have not committed such behavior. In my 20-year career, I’ve never been accused of anything like this before, and the decision to leave Google was my own.”
Singhal served 15 years at Google, rising to become a key executive on its search team.